Tuesday, June 28, 2016

How Florida Republican Voters Became Losers ... by gimleteye

Massive toxic algae blooming around the southern half of the Florida peninsula, coating with dangerous scum the prospects for public health, tourism, business and real estate on both Florida coasts is the real consequence to taxpayers and voters of losing their bet on Republican leadership: Gov. Scott, Senate President Joe Negron, Attorney General Pam Bondi, Agriculture Secretary Adam Putnam, state representative Matt Caldwell, US Senator Marco Rubio, and all the insiders and cronies they corralled to serve on boards like the water management districts and Public Service Commission. This isn't hyperbole. A real bet was made by voters. A real bet was lost.

It wasn't too long ago -- although it seems like ages -- that sober minds in both political parties, Republican and Democrat, understood that whatever their differences, attention must be paid to the public interest. In time, however, the GOP's lock on both houses of the legislature and the executive mansion boiled down to a myopic confidence that the best way to protect people was allowing corporate interests to take over the functions of government.

In Florida, Republican voters, persuaded that "enlightened self-interest of the profit motive" was real and not trickery, crystallized their preferences by electing a businessman with no government experience, Rick Scott, to be governor.

Although Rick Scott has a couple of years left on his final term, for voters the Rick Scott experiment is already coming to an end. Gaming legal protections turns out to be a very poor way to improve the quality of life of taxpayers and voters, whether Republican or not.

One of Gov. Rick Scott's first acts as governor was to axe the science budget and staff at the state agency charged with protecting fresh water resources in Florida. By eliminating scientists at the South Florida Water Management District, Scott erased the institutional memory of an agency nominally charged with balancing the needs of people and the environment with the needs of industry. Specifically, Big Sugar.

Scott appointed members of the governing board of the South Florida Water Management District who had no experience whatsoever or compassion for the environment. The Scott way distilled to a simple formula: cede regulatory control to special interests who had the most to earn by limiting the impact of regulation on their profit models.

One of Rick Scott's other first steps was to deal the death blow to the state agency that had managed to survive successive, serial assaults by the Republican leaders: the Florida Department of Community Affairs. By the time Rick Scott was elected in 2010, DCA shakily stood on the foundation of a bipartisan consensus forged by earlier generations of Republican and Democratic state leaders.

Gov. Scott was supremely uninterested in the history of DCA. He didn't care to learn or to understand a government model in decision-making for communities because it included citizen input. Scott took his self-funded victory for the governor's mansion in Florida to be a mandate for entrepreneurship over treading water with the people: put government in the hands of businessmen most impacted by outcomes or simply do away with regulatory functions of government that inhibit economic activities and "jobs".

Florida's shadow government, exemplified by Big Sugar, could not have been more pleased. Scott, as a newbie, needed training. He came to Tallahassee without a game plan or qualified staff. He would need to be brought up-to-speed and who better to bring him up-to-speed than the shadow government comprised of lobbyists and insiders who populated the state capitol, Tallahassee, and reported back to employers in Palm Beach, Tampa, Jacksonville, Naples and Miami. Scott was, fortuitously, exactly what the shadow government had been looking for all along: a smart guy perfectly in sync to streamline their profits by eliminating government regulatory functions to the maximum practical extent.

Prisons, public education, health care, and public safety: from one perspective, what Republican leaders have done is to unleash corporate freedom to create a model GOP state. From another perspective, Florida's Republican leadership is leading a race to the bottom, challenging Alabama and Mississippi as the most corrupt and polluted state in the nation.

Another of Gov. Scott's first acts was to cast aside a bargain made by his predecessor and US Sugar Corporation, the largest producer of sugarcane and one of the biggest landowners in Florida. The deal would have put into state ownership, over time, enough land -- 187,000 acres -- to begin the process of fixing what the US Army Corps of Engineers and Florida agencies like the South Florida Water Management had destroyed: the elasticity of the infrastructure system whose goal was to manage water resources for all taxpayers and for the benefit of economic interests that depend on a healthy environment.

Today's ecological collapse in the St. Lucie River, connected estuaries, in the Caloosahatchee River, along both Florida coasts and stretching down through the Everglades to Florida Bay is a neon sign flashing in front of taxpayers and voters. When Gov. Rick Scott, Marco Rubio and Adam Putnam killed the US Sugar deal, they ignored the history and science of Lake Okeechobee. Of course, Scott had already eliminated the science capacity of the state water district. By allowing political science to trump fact and the imperative for government intervention, Florida's GOP created political conditions for deadly cyanobacteria to destroy the treasures of South Florida, including public health and personal real estate.

Toxic Algae

In recent weeks, the silence of the state has been deafening. Social media sites like Facebook are filling with grim photos and videos of waterways clogged with toxic algae. The mainstream media, late to the story, has followed. Toxic blue-green algae, linked to brain disease in humans, turns out to make eye-capturing video too. Meanwhile, state agencies charged with protecting public health and measuring toxins aren't even picking up their phones because state offices for holding polluters to account for pollution are now broom closets.

If Democratic voters are furious, what is the word to describe Republican voters in Florida? Losers. Losers, because over a long period of time, they elected Republicans who turned their back on history, on bipartisan consensus and the lessons of the past. They did so with the confidence that insiders and special interests could protect the public better than regulations and enforcement because they get paid when customers are happy.

Gov. Scott Adam Putnam, Marco Rubio, and state Senate president Joe Negron can do nothing about the blight coating Florida's coastlines except to hold a few meetings, fund a few more planning studies, while cramming as much money from special interests into their campaign accountants as they can before November. It is, after all, a bet they won in the past.

10 comments:

Anonymous
said...

Right on target. This insanity has all been permitted by a GOP dedicated to kill all efforts at controlling our environment....and putting a shill into the White House. The damage done already may take years to overcome...or if they stay in to continue their mischief it would be irreparable.

You forgot 'Port Expansion for Panamax ships'. Turns out that the canal, the ships, canal design and cement quality, shipping demand and water to run it all seems to be in question....LOL! http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/06/22/world/americas/panama-canal.html?_r=0

Anonymous-- Thank you for reminding us that Republicans are notorious for talking about taking responsibility, but when it comes to it all they can do is blame Obama.oh and Benghazi, Benghazi, Benghazi.

I don't think any POTUS was or is personally responsible for all the pollution of Lake O. Congress can share blame for cotinuing sugar subsidies. Floridians have to take the blame for continually electing and re-electing politicos at all levels who don't give a darn as long as they are getting $$$ from special interests and can cut taxes that may help solve the problems. But, it is ok to ask every taxpayer to pick up the tab and still not say a word about limiting pollution inputs from sources. Reaping what's been sown.

The water is released to protect from flooding. Unfortunately, Lake O has become a sewer for Agri Business which is mainly Big Sugar. Scott refused assistance from the Federal Government in 2011 saying "Florida can take care of its own water issues." (paraphrased)

^^^Bullshit. The root cause is the pollution in the water, not the amount of the water released. Water quality standards, including those affecting both water going into and out of Lake Okechobee have been systematically dismantled by our gerrymandered Republican legislature for YEARS. The state is ultimately at fault for this. And hey, you can't have it both ways. You can't rail against the Federal government and decry oversight by the EPA and Army Corp of Engineers and not be willing to shoulder any responsibility or blame for ecological and economic crisis that ensues.

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Quotes hall of fame - worth another look:

Jonathon Dunlop of Australia about the Miami Airport:"This is the most disorganized shambles of an airport that exists on this earth.''April 01, 2007 Eye on Miami Comment on Post__________________________________On "Colony Collapse Disorder":Anonymous said...I say lets wait till the last tree is going to be cut down, the last bit of oil used, the last lowland coastal areas flooded before we make any rash decisions that might effect the economy.April 21, 2007 Eye on Miami Comment_________________________________On Bee “Colony Collapse Disorder” being blamed on cell phones:Anonymous said...Hmmm. What are bees doing with cell phones, anyhow?April 20, 2007 Eye on Miami Comment_________________________________On South Florida Water Supply:Ron Littlepage said...Unfortunately, we know who would win when it comes to allowing development to run amok and it's not the wildlife.April 20, 2007 Eye on Miami Comment Post_________________________________Lesley Blackner said:In Florida, the sad reality is that government exists to serve the development machine, not the citizenry. That's why it's proper to say that in Florida we have government of the developer, by the developer and for the developer.April 22, 2007 Eye on Miami Post_________________________________On City of Miami and Miami Dade County giving $1,000,000 each to Jorge Perez’s Related Group (The Group's 2005 revenues were $3.25 billion.):"It makes as much sense as me donating half my paycheck to Warren Buffett.”May 6, 2007 Miami Herald Columnist Ana Menendez_________________________________On the FCAT Test:"'Florida is a serial mis-user of test scores.''Bob Schaeffer, director for Massachusetts-based FairTest.May 25, 2007 Miami Herald_________________________________Clifford Schulman (Greenberg Traurig Lobbyist):"This is the first time in 33 years that any one has accused me of fraud." June 28, 2007 Miami HeraldI say: hmm.__________________________________Max Rameau, Homeless Activist:"I respect Ron Book for his work with the Homeless Trust, but the Liberty City community and others have given broad support to this idea. I don't know that a big-time millionaire lobbyist can tell us what is best for Liberty City and the black community.'' July 28, 2007 Miami Herald__________________________________"After years of mismanagement under a board of political appointees and neighborhood activists, Miami-Dade County administrators have proposed a new way to run the troubled empowerment zone program. The plan: Bring in new political appointees and neighborhood activists."November 6, 2007 Miami Herald: Reporter Scott Hiaasen______________________________________"Saying "Greater Everglades" and "Northern Everglades" is not saying Everglades -- other places are deserving of being protected too, but there is only one Everglades. The main thing is to keep the 'Main Thing' the main thing -- which, lately, has not been the main thing." Bob Mooney - on Listserve "Everglades Commons"________________________________________"Does anyone in their right mind believe that Florida could conduct postal balloting without a major screw-up or scandal? Heavens, no! The whole country is keenly aware that our state is a sump hole of incompetence and corruption."Carl Hiaasen - March 16, 2008 Miami Herald_______________________________________On the Charter Review: "Commissioners want us to vote on their own pet changes, ideas the review team explicitly rejected. And, they're throwing their blatantly self-serving ballot questions at us at the same time. What a slap in the face to the charter review team — and to all of us!" Michael Lewis of Miami Today - April 10, 2008______________________________________On the Miami Dade County Commission:''Unfortunately, this is a commission that would build a cyanide factory next to a playground if you hired the right 12 lobbyists,'' Miami Lakes Councilman Michael Pizzi - May 14, 2008______________________________________"The days where we’re just building sprawl forever, those days are over. I think that Republicans, Democrats, everybody recognizes that that’s not a smart way to build communities." President Barack Obama in Fort Meyers - February 10, 2009______________________________________"So."Dick Cheney's response when told that two thirds of Americans did not support the war in Iraq. - Time Magazine 2008______________________________________"It seems like a bad idea can always find a home in the Florida Legislature." - Howard Simon - Executive Director of Florida ACLU - March 24, 2010

______________________________________Complete this sentence: South Florida really needs a..."Regional plan for controlled growth (before it becomes a concrete jungle similar to Houston), and a completely new set of elected officials that make decisions based on what's good for the future of South Florida instead of what's good for their wallets. - Jack McCabe, Real Estate expert who predicted the housing boom's end. - August 29, 2011 Miami Herald